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Vol. 13, #9 - Mar 3, 2008 - Issue #663
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W2K8 Made It Out Of The Corral
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- Editor's Corner
- W2K8 Made It Out Of The Corral
- What Is Your Trusted Source For IT Info?
- Best-of-Breed or Best-of-Suite?
- Which Peripherals Are The Most Reliable?
- Quotes Of The Week
- Admin Toolbox
- Admin Tools We Think You Shouldn't Be Without
- Tech Briefing
- Microsoft Challenges 24 Avistar Patents
- Redmond Releases List of Programs that Won't Work with Vista SP1
- Critical VMware Bug Lets Attackers Zap 'real' Windows
- Microsoft Unveils New Software For Measuring Web Traffic And Sales
- Tracking File Access In Windows Folders
- Resource Guide: Preparing For Windows Server 2008 Migration
- Microsoft Deployment Tools Ready As Windows Server 2008 Arrives
- Windows Server News
- What Is Really Cool About Windows Server 2008?
- Part 2: Yankee Hardware Peripheral Reliability Survey Results
- WServer Third Party News
- VMware Announces Plan to Embed Hypervisor in Hardware Servers
- VMware Won't Support Windows Server 2008 Immediately
- WServerNews FAVE Links
- This Week's Links We Like. Tips, Hints And Fun Stuff.
- WServerNews - Product of the Week
- BOOK: Delete This at Your Peril
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Now Available: Ninja Blade - The Barracuda Killer
Ninja Blade is built on commercial grade soft- and hardware, as opposed to
inexpensive boxes which re-brand open source offerings. A lot of system
admins asked us for an email appliance with the quality of our Ninja Email
Security for Exchange software product. You told us you wanted an appliance
at the Barracuda price points, but more reliable hardware, and high-end
antispam and antivirus code with less false positives. So we created a
'barracuda killer' for you. Check out the specs and the prices, and draw
your own conclusions. You can now get an evaluation copy and see it for
yourself. Pricing starts at $1,995; annual maintenance and support costs
(which include automatic signature updates for anti-spam/anti-virus) start
at $599 for the 500 model which runs on a Dell server with 3 year warranty
and 4-hour on-site service!
http://www.wservernews.com/080303-NinjaBlade
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Editor's Corner |
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W2K8 Made It Out Of The Corral
New flavors of Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008, and Visual Studio 2008
are released worldwide. Redmond hopes the new features will be appealing to
the IT admin crowd and developers while convincing MIS management to move
up to Vista. Kevin Turner, Microsoft COO, said: "These are the three most
important products in the Microsoft portfolio, and certainly, the most
important in our commercial business and in our enterprise business. These
products will make you more productive, more agile, will save you time, will
simplify. Those are the key cornerstones of what we mean when we say 'dynamic
IT'. A link to the best review up to now sits in the Server section below.
What Is Your Trusted Source For IT Info?
We need your input! Can you please give us your opinions on what print pubs
and online websites you use to keep informed about IT security related news
and product information? This survey should not take more than 3 minutes at
best. A $100 AMEX Gift Card will be drawn from the participants, but you
need to leave your email address in the last question (7) to be eligible.
Thank you so much!
http://www.wservernews.com/080303-Trusted-IT-Source
Best-of-Breed or Best-of-Suite?
Well, your opinion was really clear. Best of breed won with a landslide 68%
over best-of-suite. Here is one spot-on comment from a WSN reader: "In my
view there is no comparison: over time, useful specialist programs that
have expanded have become top-heavy by cobbling together additional
components: firewalls, spam blockers, ad blockers, and most anything else
that comes to mind. The result is a "suite" that is complex, often finicky,
more difficult to use, demands more resources, and is unwieldy. The value of
having everything under one roof, while superficially good, just isn't worth
it, since, of necessity, the original emphasis and clear purpose of the
basic specialist program tends to shift, blur and become if not forgotten
at least out of mind." -- Hugh Carnes
Which Peripherals Are The Most Reliable?
This issue we have the second part of the large Yankee survey on hardware
reliability but this time you have told us about how well workstations,
printers and routers are doing. Make sure you read about it in the Server
Section below!
Quotes Of The Week
"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough
to take everything you have." -- Thomas Jefferson
"If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the
newspaper you are misinformed." -- Mark Twain
Thank you for being a WServerNews subscriber. Please
tell your friends about us. They can subscribe here:
http://www.wservernews.com/080303-Subscribe
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Now Available: Ninja Blade - The Barracuda Killer
Ninja Blade is built on commercial grade soft- and hardware, as opposed to
inexpensive boxes which re-brand open source offerings. A lot of system
admins asked us for an email appliance with the quality of our Ninja Email
Security for Exchange software product. You told us you wanted an appliance
at the Barracuda price points, but more reliable hardware, and high-end
antispam and antivirus code with less false positives. So we created a
'barracuda killer' for you. Check out the specs and the prices, and draw
your own conclusions. You can now get an evaluation copy and see it for
yourself. Pricing starts at $1,995; annual maintenance and support costs
(which include automatic signature updates for anti-spam/anti-virus) start
at $599 for the 500 model which runs on a Dell server with 3 year warranty
and 4-hour on-site service!
http://www.wservernews.com/080303-Ninja-Blade
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Tech Briefing |
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Microsoft Challenges 24 Avistar Patents
Reuters reported that Avistar Communications Corp, a video conference equipment
maker, said on Monday it has been notified that Microsoft has challenged 24 of
Avistar's 29 U.S. patents. So, what does that mean? Count on more Redmond
hardware and/or software for video conferencing in the near future.
http://www.wservernews.com/080303-Avistar-Patents
Redmond Releases List of Programs that Won't Work with Vista SP1
Microsoft released a list of known programs that experience some sort of
"loss of functionality" with Windows Vista SP1. Here is the Microsoft
Knowledge Base item:
http://www.wservernews.com/080303-Vista-SP1
Critical VMware Bug Lets Attackers Zap 'real' Windows
A critical vulnerability in VMware's virtualization software for Windows
lets attackers escape the "guest" operating system and modify or add
files to the underlying "host" operating system, the company has
acknowledged. More of this article at:
http://www.wservernews.com/080303-VMware-Vulnerability
Microsoft Unveils New Software For Measuring Web Traffic And Sales
It said its new system, which it calls Engagement Mapping, will measure all
the interactions a consumer makes with a Web site before an eventual sale.
Microsoft said its system goes beyond current ad campaign reporting that
measures sales, leads and traffic. More at CNN:
http://www.wservernews.com/080303-Engagement-Mapping
Tracking File Access In Windows Folders
SearchWindowsSecurity.com expert Jonathan Hassell provides step-by-step
instructions on how to use the auditing function in Windows XP or Windows
Vista to track which files users are accessing. (registration required)
http://www.wservernews.com/080303-Tracking-File-Access
Resource Guide: Preparing For Windows Server 2008 Migration
The wait is over! Windows Server 2008 is available. But are you ready for it?
Use this checklist to learn how IT shops can prepare for a Windows Server 2008
migration.
http://www.wservernews.com/080303-Windows-Server-2008
Microsoft Deployment Tools Ready As Windows Server 2008 Arrives
With Windows Server 2008 on the brink of general availability, planning tools
abound. But also keep in mind installation options like Server Core.
http://www.wservernews.com/080303-W2K8-Deployment-Tools
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Windows Server News |
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What Is Really Cool About Windows Server 2008?
A standing complaint about Windows Server is its resource footprint.
Those in IT just take as rote that it requires lots of memory, lots of
CPU, and lots of disk to put any substantial services on the air with
Windows Server 2003. I think it's safe to say that the typical x86 rack
server's characteristics reflect the requirements of Windows Server.
Microsoft's big OS has always been designed under the presumption that
it will have a full physical server to itself. But...not so fast!
InfoWorld Chief Technologist Tom Yager said, "You really have to get your
hands on the shipping version to appreciate it." His in-depth review of
Windows Server 2008 holds the new OS in high esteem. "There's never been
a smaller Windows Server," says Tom. The new OS can actually be scaled
down to 512MB of RAM and a mere 1GB of disk space, which hits Linux where
it lives. In conjunction with Microsoft's new HyperV virtualization
technology, you can run unlimited instances of the OS on a single
server with a single license. More of this excellent review at:
http://www.wservernews.com/080303-W2K8
Part 2: Yankee Hardware Peripheral Reliability Survey Results
Summary: Once again, thanks to all of you who participated in the survey.
We had nearly 500 respondents worldwide. The survey's intent was to
determine the reliability of various vendor hardware solutions including:
workstations, printers and routers. We use a term called PM Events, which
means Planned Managed Outage. In other words, taking the server, router or
printer offline for scheduled maintenance or upgrades.
There were very few real surprises. The top vendors: particularly HP all
performed reasonably well, though wired routers from Cisco/Linksys registered
the most annual outage minutes and took the longest time to repair.
Workstation Data: Not surprisingly, Dell is number one in this category,
far outpacing all rivals. The combination of direct sales, an extremely strong
reseller channel and some of the lowest prices in the industry, make Dell a very
popular choice. The wide range of colors for the laptops don't hurt either!
Workstation Reliability/Average number of annual workstation failures:
Dell and HP both fare well in the category of workstation reliability. HP
bested Dell with an average of only 10 outages per annum compared with
roughly 13 unplanned workstation outages for Dell. The category of "other"
workstations which includes a variety of brand names and no names racked
up the highest outage total.
Annual Average Workstation Repair Times: Dell workstations however, had the
distinction of racking up the highest repair times with just under 45 hours
annually. HP workstations fared the best in this category, with an average
annual repair time of eight hours.
Average Annual Workstation Outage Time: HP workstations also took top honors
in this category as well, averaging only 10 hours of yearly outage time.
HP uptime far surpassed Dell workstations in this category which racked up
approximately 56 hours of yearly outages.
Total Number of Workstation Annual PM Events: Again, users rated HP
workstations the best in this category as well, averaging just 10 PM events
a year compared to Dell workstations which users reported had nearly double
the number of PM events -- with roughly 18 each year.
Total Workstation PM Annual Downtime: HP bested the competition with just over
eight hours of PM downtime in a 12 month period. This was 33% better than Dell
workstations; survey respondents reported that annual PM downtime for Dell
workstations was 12 hours and workstations in the "Other" category notched
about 17 hours of PM downtime each year.
Network Printers Quantity Owned: HP was users' first choice for both laser
and inkjet networked printers, followed by Dell laser printers. The survey
data showed that HP is especially strong in large organizations compared with
rivals like Canon which are found more frequently in very small businesses
and are also popular with consumers.
Number of Networked Printer Failures Annually: The printers in the "Other"
category failed most frequently -- 19 times a year compared with about eight
failures annually for HP laser printers and just under six failures per year
for HP inkjet printers. Users who had laser printers from Dell and Canon,
two other popular brands, reported fewer than four failures each per year.
Total Average Annual Repair Time for Networked Printers: Laser printers in
the "Other" category took the most time to repair -- an average of 17 hours
compared with an average repair time of 11 hours for HP networked laser
printers and six hours for Dell laser printers. The lower end inkjet printers
which are more likely utilized by consumers took an average of six hours repair
time for HP models. Inkjet printers from Canon and Epson, two other popular
brands each took an average of less than four hours to repair on an annual
basis.
Total Average Annual Outage Time for Networked Printers: By virtue of its
popularity and near ubiquity, HP networked laser printers, also logged the
highest number of outage hours -- about 56 compared with 52 hours for "Other"
brands of laser printers. Laser printers from Canon and Dell had far less
annual outage time -- approximately 10 hours per annum. Yankee Group attributes
this to the fact that the workloads for the Dell and Canon models are much
lower and these brands are more likely to be found in small SMB or consumer
environments.
Total Number of PM Events Associated with Networked Printers Annually: HP
laser printers and inkjet printers led rivals in these categories with 7.5
and 2.5 PM events annually. Again, the higher numbers in this category are
attributable to the widespread deployment of HP printers and the high
workloads associated with them. Laser printers from Canon and Dell each
experienced fewer than two PM events per annum.
Total PM Annual Downtime Associated with Networked Printers Annually:
"Other" laser printers had the most PM annual downtime with just over 12
hours while HP laser printers had an average of just under 10 PM downtime
hours yearly. Dell and Canon laser printers each had only about 2.5 hours
of PM annual downtime.
Router Survey Results
As expected, market leader Cisco Systems routers were by far the most popular
and widely installed by a wide margin. And the reliability of the Cisco
routers was very high.
Number of Average Router Failures in the last 12 months: Cisco/Linksys wired
routers experienced approximately 1.3 failures per annum, per router compared
to about 2.4 failures per year for wired routers in the "Other" category.
Average Annual Total Router Repair Time: Cisco led by a wide margin -- 5.2
hours in this category. As with HP, this is attributable to the widespread
deployment and complexity of the workloads of the Cisco devices, which Wired
routers in the "Other" category took just under one hour to repair in the
same 12 month period.
Total Annual Average Router Outage Time: Cisco/Linksys wired routers
experienced approximately 7.3 hours of yearly outage time compared with
just less than 4 hours for routers in the "Other" category and routers
from Alcatel-Lucent. Again, the higher numbers for Cisco are not surprising
given the ubiquity and complexity of the Cisco devices.
Total Number of Router PM Events Annually: Cisco Linksys wired routers
experienced just over 1 PM event annually; routers in the "Other" category
had just under 1 PM event in the same 12 month span.
Total Planned PM Average Annual Router Downtime: Survey respondents indicated
that Cisco/Linksys devices had just under 1 -- with .90 compared with routers
in the 'Other" category which had .80.
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WServer Third Party News |
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VMware Announces Plan to Embed Hypervisor in Hardware Servers
Starting in early April, Dell will begin embedding VMware's ESX 3i
hypervisor in all of its virtualization-certified PowerEdge servers.
In addition, VMware announced plans to embed its 3i hypervisor in servers
from Fujitsu Siemens Computers, HP and IBM within the next 60 days. The
initiative was first revealed at VMWorld and is aimed at accelerating the
adoption of virtualization. Customers who purchase the embedded servers
can upgrade to VMware's Infrastructure 3, which includes such features
as automatic load balancing, business continuity and power management.
The rest of this article is at eWEEK:
http://www.wservernews.com/080303-VMware-Hypervisor
VMware Won't Support Windows Server 2008 Immediately
Microsoft's new Windows Server 2008 operating system should be available
starting March 1, but VMware Inc., for one, won't officially support it
on VMware ESX Server or on VMware Server until the third quarter -- for
at least another three months -- said Bogomil Balkansky, VMware senior
director of product marketing. Support for Windows Server 2008 on VMware
Workstation could come even later, said Balkansky, who noncommittally
said that support would arrive "later this year."
http://www.wservernews.com/080303-W2K8-VMware
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WServerNews FAVE Links |
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This Week's Links We Like. Tips, Hints And Fun Stuff.
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WServerNews - Product of the Week |
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BOOK: Delete This at Your Peril
Tired of all the spam and want to see how some one got back at them? 'One
Man's Hilarious Exchanges with Internet Spammers' is a riot. In collusion with
his "editor" Neil Forsyth, Bob gives spammers a taste of their own medicine.
This wickedly funny and original book features the anarchic exchanges between
Bob and the hapless spam merchants who unwittingly flood his inbox. As they
offer him African fortunes, Russian brides, and get-rich-quick scams, he
turns the tables by offering them some outlandish schemes of his own. Upping
the ante with the skill of a seasoned pro, Bob demands legal asylum, shoulders
to cry on, and gold lions that speak-and almost gets his way. The result is
page after page of wacky and hilarious e-mail exchanges-and a cathartic
release for anyone whose inbox has been deluged with unwanted e-mail.
http://www.wservernews.com/080303-Delete-This
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